Would you rather?

[artemis4]

More travel! More, more, more!

We rent condo when we travel as it is the only reasonable way to travel with a party of 6 in my opinion. So, we have a washer/dryer and full kitchen at our disposal. I love that. The washer/dryer means that we pack half as much luggage and come home with clean clothes. It is no hardship to toss in a load when I wake up, everyone get some breakfast and get ready for the day, and the toss the laundry into the dryer before we leave for the day.

Cooking on vacation? No biggie, but I will say that I love to cook. Frankly, I'd rather go back to the condo and have the kids chill out while I whip something up. That is way nicer for me than taking tired kids into a restaurant at the end of the day and waiting 30+ minutes for order taking and food to arrive at our table. My favorite was last year in the Outer Banks. We made friends at the fish market, and we would pick up something fresh and indulgent every night for me to cook with. Now that was a treat. Sometimes I make up some crockpot OAMC meals, freeze them, and then bring them along with the crock. In the morning, I can toss a defrosted meal into the crockpot, and we come home to something cooked and ready at the end of the day.

We drive because, again, more reasonable travel with a family of 6. We are self-employed and can take 2-3 days on the ends of our week away for travel. We have roadtripped 1000 mile (each way) with a 9 month old and 1400 miles (each way) with an 11 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old. My kids know how to car travel, to say the least.

I know that our style of vacation is not what everyone considers "vacation". We love it, though, because we'd rather do as much traveling as possible instead of only doing luxury trips.

 

[indimom]

More travel, less luxury.

But I think this relates to how long it would take us to reach luxury level.

Even at a "budget vacation" level, we do not vacation every year.

I'm not willing to wait 3-4 years for a vacation just to avoid quick and easy meals in the hotel room. I'll happily eat breakfast/lunch at the hotel in order to get away from hum-drum life at home every year or two.

 

[ellochka]

We have a mixture of those.

What we really prefer is space. We like to take 7 to 14 day trips where we would rent a condo on the beach for more space, and then depending on the type of vacation, cook ourselves more or go out more. For example, we can do South Beach for 7 days in a really nice condo and mostly eat out. Or we can do Ft. Myer Beach in a run of a mill condo for 14 days and mostly cook in.

We did have a 2-day luxury trip to Greenbrier (on my bucket list) a month ago, and generally speaking, it was very nice, except I hated that we stayed in the same room with our toddler. The lack of space kills the vacation feeling for me.

 

[ellochka]

I feel it's important to note that not everyone defines "luxury" the same way.

I agree. Our preferences changed pretty dramatically with the little addition to the fam. Here is my list of expensive things and whether I would pay for them.

* Traveling in busy time (Christmas, spring break) - NO
* Flying (vs. driving) - YES, plus I will pay some premium for a convenient fight
* Large suite, or 2 rooms - YES
* Luxurious hotel - RARELY, depends on amenities
* Great location - YES, we like to be close to everything
* Nice pool - YES (we used to not care at all, and then we had a child)
* Going out for breakfast - NO, unless character breakfast, otherwise, it's a waste of time
* Going out for dinner - YES, and the leftovers are reheated for lunch
* Tours, parks, zoos, attractions - YES
* Golf - NO
* Spa visits and massages - NO
* Laundry in the unit - YES (some consider it the opposite of luxury)
* Room service - NO
* Nice view - NO

 

[JillianMarie]

I don't know - I don't think we 'vacation' like most other people here. We've been to the beach, but it's not something we really seek out. We just like to travel. I'd MUCH rather be in a hostel somewhere in Switzerland than the nicest luxury resort on Florida. Besides, the best lunches I've ever had were largely made up of items pocketed from the free hostel continental breakfast. Free breakfast roll, bit of butter, fresh cheese and salami - better than any luxury vacation meal I'll ever have, I guarantee it.

 

[artemis4]

I don't know - I don't think we 'vacation' like most other people here. We've been to the beach, but it's not something we really seek out. We just like to travel. I'd MUCH rather be in a hostel somewhere in Switzerland than the nicest luxury resort on Florida. Besides, the best lunches I've ever had were largely made up of items pocketed from the free hostel continental breakfast. Free breakfast roll, bit of butter, fresh cheese and salami - better than any luxury vacation meal I'll ever have, I guarantee it.

"We just like to travel" sums up my family well. A decade ago, we did all inclusive beach trip to the Riveria Maya for my sister's wedding. Nice, but not our thing. Hiking in the mountains or along a distant river, taking national park tours, listening to ocean in OBX in November, stopping at a small town historical society museum or a self-guided historical tour? Love it, give me more.

The best meal I've ever eaten was in '95 on a picnic table in a stranger's yard in Jonesport, ME where my husband and I ate freshly made lobster rolls bought from said stranger who ran a restaurant part of the year but was technically closed when we stopped. That is vacation to me.